Remarks by the President in Pierce for Congress Dinner
Las Cruces Hilton
Las Cruces, New Mexico

5:15 P.M. MDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. Thanks a lot.
Congressman, thank you. (Applause.) I'm proud to come and ask for the
people of this good district in this important state to vote for Steve
Pierce to be the next United States congressman. (Applause.) He's a
man of good judgment. When we were walking in, he said, a lot of folks
wish Laura were here. (Laughter.) And I told him, well, he drew the
short straw. (Laughter.)

She is doing great, by the way. She was -- actually, her
grandmother and her mom grew up right down the road from here, right
outside of El Paso. And she was born and raised in Midland, which is
right across the boundary, as you know. When I married her she was a
public school librarian. She didn't particularly care about politics,
or politicians, for that matter. (Laughter.) And here she is as the
First Lady. And what a great job she has done. (Applause.) I'm real
proud of her. And in a couple of hours I'm going to see her in
Crawford, Texas. (Laughter.)

I appreciate so very much Cynthia Pierce. Both Steve and I married
above ourselves. (Laughter.) Cynthia is a great lady. (Applause.) I
appreciate your willingness to go to Washington. It's important. It's
important for our country that good people choose to serve, and that
the people back good people. And we're backing a good man in Steve
Pierce to be the next congressman. (Applause.)

And he's going to be replacing a good man. I am proud of Joe
Skeen. I am proud of his courage. (Applause.) I appreciate you,
Joe. (Applause.) I want to thank Joe and Mary for their service, 22
years of service to this district. He has done a fine job, and we're
going to miss him.

I also was pleased today -- earlier today, to be in the presence of
another great New Mexican citizen, and that is your senior Senate Pete
Domenici. (Applause.) Pete had to make up his mind whether he wanted
to hear me speak twice, or go fishing. (Laughter.) He chose the right
course. (Laughter.) He's fishing. (Laughter.)

I want to thank very much the Lieutenant Governor, Walter Bradley,
for being here today. Walter, thank you for coming, and thank you for
your service. (Applause.) Thank you, Walter.

I'm proud to be in the presence of the next governor of the state
of New Mexico, John Sanchez. (Applause.) I appreciate you, John.
He's got the next first lady with him, Deborah. Thanks for coming,
Deborah. I appreciate you being here. (Applause.) John's going to
win. (Applause.) And he's going to make a big difference for the
people of New Mexico, a positive influence. It's a -- John's got a
great story. I love his spirit, and I love his attitude.

I also appreciate Rob Perry, the next Attorney General of the state
of New Mexico. (Applause.) I had the honor of just --who they call
"just call me Sharon." Where are you, Sharon? Thank you, Sharon.
(Applause.) Good luck. Sharon is going to be the secretary of state of
New Mexico.

I want to thank the party chairman for being here. John, thank you
for coming. I want to thank all the grassroots activists who are
here. You see, you can't win unless you get people who are willing to
put up the signs. And it looked they did a pretty darn good job,
Steve, when I came in today. (Laughter.) And do the mailings, and go
to the coffee shops all around the state of New Mexico, and tell the
people what a great slate we've got -- look the people in the eye and
tell them the values that these people bring to the office when they
win. That's important.

So not only do I want to thank you for coming tonight, but I want
to thank you very much for what you're fixing to do, and that is to
work hard. Any time you find a good one, you've got to get out and
help. And we need your help.

I also want to thank two friends of mine who have made a big
difference in New Mexico, New Mexico politics and the life of New
Mexico politics, and that's Colin and Kay McMillan and Ken and Kathy
Zangara (ph). Thank you all for coming. (Applause.) I saw the
Zangaras (ph) the other day over there in Crawford, and they said, I'm
going to see you in Las Cruces. I said, okay. And here they are. And
they're working hard -- and so are you all. And it's important. It's
important. This election is an important election because we've got a
lot to accomplish in Washington, D.C. I need good solid allies when it
comes to making our nation the very best it can be.

And that starts with having somebody understand that when you're
talking about taxpayers' money, he realizes it's not the government's
money. When we're talking about taxpayers' money, it is the people's
money. And you've always got to remember that in Washington, D.C.
(Applause.)

And that's important because we cut the taxes for the people. See,
Steve and I understand this concept, that if somebody has more money,
they're going to demand a good or a service. And if they demand a good
or a service, somebody is going to provide that good or service. And
when somebody does, it's more likely somebody is going to find work.
And when you've got a slowdown in your economy -- as a matter of fact,
it was more than a slowdown when I came into office, it was a flat-out
recession -- it's best to understand that when people have more money
it provides wind in the sails of our economic vitality.

And one of the issues we have, though, in Washington is this -- is
that because of a quirk in the Senate rules, the tax relief we provided
-- not only tax relief for small businesses and hardworking people, but
tax relief on marriages and getting rid of the death tax, by the way,
which is vital for families here in New Mexico -- (applause) -- but
that tax relief goes away after 10 years. And so, for the sake of
economic vitality, so people can plan, for the sake of understanding
whose money it is that we're talking about, I need somebody in Congress
who will join me in making sure the tax cuts are permanent. And that
is Steve Pierce. (Applause.)

I appreciate Steve's common-sense approach to issues. I'm not
surprised; after all, there's a lot of common-sense people here in this
part of the world. And he's from Hobson. I know a little something
about Hobs -- it's right around the corner from Jal. (Laughter.)
People there have got common sense. They see a problem and they try
and solve it. Let me give you one example of what I'm talking about,
something I talked about when I was in Oregon the other day, and that
is, we've got a problem with our forests. We've got a problem with an
important national treasure.

You see, there has been an attitude that if you just leave things
be, the forests will be more healthy. And we're learning -- we're
paying a price now for that kind of attitude. By letting things be,
kindling piles up. And then lightning will strike, and all of a sudden
we've got these massive fires that are destroying a national treasure.

Steve proposed legislation that would encourage thinning so that we
would make the forests more healthy and more long-lived. That's the
kind of common-sense approach we need in Washington, D.C. For the sake
of our national heritage, for the sake of our forests, let's bring some
common sense to conservation-environmental policy. (Applause.)

I appreciate a man who understands farming and ranching. And
that's really important in Washington, D.C. You see, one of the great
advantages we have as a nation is that we provide more food to our
people than we need. Imagine if it were the other way around. Imagine
if we were going hat in hand around the world asking for food. It
would put us in a different national security position. No, we need
common sense farm and ranch policy. We need to make sure that not only
do we have less regulation, but that we've got to sell our products.
You see, there's nothing better for our cattlemen than to be selling
that beef around the world. If you're worried about price, the best
way to encourage high price -- prices so people can make a living and
stay on the farm or the ranch, is to not only feed ourselves, but to
feed the world. I intend to use agricultural policy as the cornerstone
of good economic policy for the United States of America. (Applause.)

We need people up there who understand energy. We don't have an
energy plan. I'm waiting for the Congress to finally get me an energy
plan, one that is based upon common sense; one that says, of course, we
can do a better job of using technologies to conserve energy, and we've
got to do things about renewable energy. In other words, we've got to
do a better job of protecting the resources we have by being wiser
about how we use them. But we've got to find more energy here at
home. For the sake of job security and for the sake of national
security, we need to become less dependent on foreign sources of
power. (Applause.)

We need that kind of voice in Washington. We need somebody to
bring some common sense up there. We need somebody who understands
what I understand, that education has got to be a top priority of this
nation and of this state. Now, look, I want you all to understand I
haven't forgot where I came from. I fully trust the local people to
chart the path for excellence in the public school system. In essence,
what we have done is we're passing power out of Washington. One size
doesn't fit all in Washington, D.C. (Applause.) But it's important to
have people up there who understand that we've got to set high
expectations for our children, to challenge what I call the soft
bigotry of low expectations.

We've got to face the fact that there are some districts around the
country, and probably some here in New Mexico, where some assume that
certain children can't learn, particularly those whose parents don't
speak English as a first language, and therefore, the system just
shuffles them through. That's unacceptable to me. That's unacceptable
to Steve.

And that's why I've insisted that if you receive federal money,
you've got to show us whether or not children are learning to read and
write and add and subtract. You see, if you believe every child can
learn, than you're not afraid to measure. You're not afraid to hold
people to account. You're not afraid to ask that question, can our
children read, and can they write? And if they can, there's plenty of
praise for our teachers. And for those of you who teach or are
involved with public schools, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
But we've got to use the accountability system to catch the problems
early, and to solve the problems early, before it is too late. This
business about just quitting on kids has got to end. No child in
America should be left behind. (Applause.)

And I appreciate Steve's service in the Armed Forces. And that's
important knowledge to have in Washington, D.C., because we're at war.
And we're in a tough struggle, we're in a tough struggle against a
determined enemy. They're nothing but a bunch of cold-blooded killers,
is how I define them. These are people who truly hate. They hate what
we stand for, particularly because we love what we stand for. We love
freedom. They hate us because we love freedom. We love the fact that
people are able to worship the Almighty in a free society. They have
hijacked a great religion to profess their hate. See, they don't like
the idea of people being able to express themselves freely.

And so long as we hold those values dear, they will come after us.
That's just the way -- just the way they are. And so our biggest job
-- and I say our, it's a collective effort, but a lot of it starts in
Washington, D.C. -- is to secure the homeland. It's to do everything
we can to make sure that the good people of this country don't suffer
what happened on September the 11th.

And we're making some progress, we really are. There's a lot of
hardworking folks -- folks at the federal level and at the state level,
and at the local level, who are working hour after hour to run down any
hint, any lead, and disrupting any possible plans to hit America.

I've made a proposal there in Washington I want to explain to you
right quick about why I did so. I said, we need to create a new
department of homeland security. When I first said that, a couple of
my buddies in Texas said, I thought you ran on the platform that you
weren't going to make government bigger. I said, that's true, that's
true, but I'd definitely like to make it better. And when we have a
responsibility, it ought to be able to do its job. And my concern,
having looked carefully at the situation, is that there's over 100
agencies in Washington, D.C., that have something to do with the
homeland security. They're scattered everywhere. It's awfully hard to
create a culture and set priority when they're scattered about.

And so I said to the Congress, why don't you create a department of
homeland security, so that we can better enforce our borders. Listen,
we need to know who's coming in, what they're bringing in, and if
they're staying. And if they're not -- or if they're leaving when
they're supposed to be leaving. We need to do a better job of
coordinating a first responder strategy with our brave police and
sheriffs departments and EMS teams and fire teams around the country.
We need to do a better job of understanding the effects of weapons of
mass destruction and being able to respond to those threats. We've got
to have the capacity to gather intelligence, analyze intelligence,
assess our vulnerabilities and deal with them. And that's what this
new homeland department is going to do.

I made good progress in the House -- I want to thank Joe for his
vote. It's got a little problem in the Senate because the Senate
appears to be more worried about special interests in Washington, D.C.,
as opposed to the interests of the American people. They want to
micromanage the department. I'll give you an example. We've got, as
you know as well as anybody else, we've got agencies on our border.
They wear different uniforms, they've got different strategies
sometimes. They've got a stovepipe type organization. For the sake of
our homeland security I need the ability to be able to put the right
people at the right time at the right place, in order to protect
America.

We've got to be able to have interoperability between our agencies
-- between Customs and the INS and the Border Patrol -- for the sake of
the security. I will not accept a bill from the Senate which ties our
hands and does not let us do the job you want us to do to protect our
homeland. (Applause.)

But the best way to make sure we secure the homeland is to get the
enemy, and hunt them down one by one. And that's what we're going to
have to do. It's a different kind of strategy because it's a different
kind of war. In the old days there was infantry and tanks and
formations and fleets. That's not the kind of war we're facing right
now. We're facing a war in which the commanders hide in a cave and
send youngsters to their suicidal death. They blend in big cities,
they hide. But we've got them on the run, we're flushing them out one
by one, and we're making pretty good progress. We really are. We've
hauled in over a couple thousand of them. And a like number wasn't as
lucky, they met their fate.

But there's more of them out there. There's more of them out
there, and we're learning who they are. And they're just not going to
be able to hide from us, because, one, we've got a great military, and
two, we put a vast coalition together of people who understand what's
at stake.

I submitted to the Congress a significant increase in or defense
budget. I want to explain to you why I did. It's significant -- it's
the most significant since Ronald Reagan was the President. And I did
so because I wanted to send two messages to our country, and to
everybody else, and that is, one, anytime we put one of our troops in
harm's way, they must have the best equipment and the best pay and the
best possible training. We owe it to our soldiers -- applause.) We
owe it to our troops, and as importantly, we owe it to our troops'
families.

And secondly, the increase in the defense spending should send a
clear message to friend and foe alike that the United States of America
is a determined and patient nation; that we will do whatever it takes
to defend our freedom. No matter how long it takes, we're going to do
what it takes to bring peace to the world. Oh, you hear some of them
squawking about it up there, but I think most Americans understand
what's at stake. They remember the horrors of September the 11th.
They know that there is a determined enemy. They know that we are
never going to abandoned the values which we hold dear, and so long as
we hold those values dear, they may try and come and get us.

I laid out some doctrine early in this conflict -- two basic
doctrine: one said that if you harbor a terrorist you're just as
guilty as the terrorist. If you feed them or clothe them or hide them,
you're guilty. And the Taliban found out exactly what we meant. Now,
I do want you to tell your children -- and I say this every chance I
get -- that your great nation, in upholding that doctrine, went into
Afghanistan not to conquer anybody, but to liberate people. And that's
what we did. We got young girls, many young girls going to school for
the first time, thanks to the United States of America. (Applause.)

And we're still there. We're there to help promote democracy, a
value which we hold dear. And we're there to hunt down al Qaeda.
Anytime they bunch up or anytime we find them we've got fantastic
troops on the ground, hunting them down one person at a time.

That doctrine pertains to other countries, of course, and the idea
is once you get them flushed out and get them on the run there ought to
be no place for them to light, no safe haven, no possible place to
train. So you need to know your government is doing everything we can
to continue to remind other countries that we expect them to be with
us, or with the enemy.

Recently, a couple of months ago, the Philippines had a problem
there with what they call the Abu Sabeda group. They had kidnapped two
Americans, the Burnhams, from Kansas. They were al Qaeda related, and
the Philippine government, thanks to our training, went and got the
head of the Abu Sabeda. Slowly but surely, we're accomplishing our
mission. And we will not stop until we finish. (Applause.)

There's a long way to go. We've got a lot of work to do, and
sometimes you'll see the work on your TVs, and sometimes you won't. It
creates a certain sense of anxiety amongst the speculators and the
pundits, but that's okay. It's a new kind of war. We're steady, we're
patient, and we're making progress, because we understand the stakes,
and the stakes are high. The stakes are these: whether or not our
children can grow up in a free and peaceful world. Those are the
stakes. And that's why I talk about making sure that the world's worst
leaders aren't able to develop and harbor the world's worst weapons.

Now, listen, I've got a lot of tools at my disposal, and I'm a
patient, patient man. But I understand freedom. And I understand
history has put the spotlight on this country. And so long as I'm the
President, this country isn't going to blink, we're going to lead.
(Applause.) And I look forward to having Steve's support in this
effort.

But I want you to know that I believe -- I firmly believe that by
leading this coalition and by remaining strong and diligent and
focused, that we can achieve peace. It's very important to tell the
youngsters who are trying to figure out what all this means that the
goal in this nation is a peaceful world. That's what I hope.
Sometimes it may not look like we're getting there, but that is where
we're headed, and that's what I believe we can accomplish.

Not only do I believe we can achieve peace here, but I believe we
can achieve peace in other troubled areas. I firmly believe that if we
remain strong on terror, and promote values of human dignity and the
values of freedom, that we can achieve peace in the Middle East or in
South Asia.

The enemy must have not known who they were hitting. They thought
that we were a selfish nation, that we were so materialistic that all
we would do is file a lawsuit -- (laughter) -- that we weren't tough,
that we didn't have character. That's what they must have thought.
They're learning otherwise.

You see, this is a nation which knows what I know, that out of the
evil done to our country is going to come some good. Not only a more
peaceful world, but a more compassionate country -- a country in which
everybody understands that the American Dream is meant for them --
everybody. My belief is that one of -- when one suffers, all of us
suffers. I also know there's limitations on government, that
government can hand out money -- we do a pretty good job of it
sometimes. But what government cannot do is affect the human spirit.
It can't put hope in people's hearts; it can't put a sense of purpose
in people's lives. Government is not love. Love comes when our fellow
Americans put their arms around the shoulder of somebody who hurts, and
says, I love you, I love you, what can I do to help you.

People say, I'd like to join the war on terror, or what can I do to
make my country a better place, and my answer is, love your neighbor
just like you'd like to be loved yourself. Mentor a child. Have a Boy
Scout troop or a Girl Scout troop. Be willing to teach people values.
Make a difference in one person's life. Oh, I know that that doesn't
seem huge, one person can't do everything. But one person can do
something. One person can be that somebody who's making a difference
in a child's life, or a neighbor's life.

And that's happening in America. It really is. People are
beginning to understand -- they've taken a step back and they've said,
what is this all about, what does it mean to be an American. I believe
Americans from all walks of life, every political party, even those
that can't stand politics, understand that patriotism means serving
something greater than just yourself. The enemy hit us; they didn't
know who they were hitting; they're paying a terrible price and will
continue to do so. But the dividend of the tragedy is going to be a
stronger America. And by stronger America I mean a more hopeful
America, a decent America, an America where anybody, regardless of
their background, comes, they will have the opportunities that we have
had.

There's addiction in our society, there's hopelessness in our
society, there's fatherless in our society. But all those problems
that may seem insurmountable can be solved one citizen at a time. And
so my call to our country is be that citizen making a difference in
somebody's life.

I first started running for politics in -- well, the second time I
ran for -- the first time I didn't do so good -- (laughter) -- in
Midland. Came in second in a two-man race. (Laughter.) We've got
some friends from Lubbock here; they may remember that. (Laughter.)
The second time I ran I said, I hope to be a part of a cultural change
in America. I hope that I can, in some small way, influence a shift in
the culture from one that had said, if it feels good just go ahead and
do it, and if you've got a problem blame somebody else for your
problems. See, my hope was that our society would evolve toward a
period in which all of us are responsible for the decisions we make in
life; that if you're a mom or a dad your most important job and your
most important responsibility is to love your children with all your
heart and all your soul. That if you're a citizen of Los Cruces, New
Mexico, or Hobs, New Mexico, you have a responsibility to ensure that
your school system is the best it can possibly be, to supp ort your
teachers, to work in your community in any way it takes to make a
difference in somebody's life.

I'm a big proponent of what I call the faith-based initiative
because I understand that many times a changed heart will lead to a
changed life, and out of our churches or synagogues or mosques come the
capacity to change a person's heart, to make America a better and more
decent place.

The period of responsibility is coming; I can see it all across our
country. People have assumed that new patriotism. It's not just
rooting for a military, it is being an active citizen, a participant in
making America a genuinely decent place. And perhaps the most poignant
example of that came on Flight 93. Citizens were flying across the
country, you may remember. They had heard that the airplane was going
to be a weapon. They said to their loved ones, I love you -- I love
you. They said a prayer; one guy said, "Let's roll." They drove the
plane in the ground, to serve something greater than themselves in
life.

No, out of the evil done to America is going to come incredible
good, because this is the finest country, with the finest people on the
face of the Earth. God bless. (Applause.)